Wednesday, April 30, 2014

But why is it so good to discover our dominant fault? Because in the developing of our inward life, as in business or in a battle, or in a course of study, success follows from skilful ordering, or rationalising, or strategy. In order to build up our spiritual character with success we must plan, we must concentrate our attack. If we try to overcome all our faults at once we shall probably fail; we have to pick out one point and hammer away at that. And, therefore, obviously it should be a strategic point.

But notice, our dominant fault is not necessarily the most serious sin that we fall into. A man may fall once in a way, not as a habit, into serious sin through drink, and yet the fault which he would be well advised to deal with first may be something quite different, say a bad temper. A dominant fault is one which is the root of many others: dig that out and the rest will die too. The faults of which we are speaking are habits. Diamond cut diamond: habits are only cured by habits.

Therefore it is not enough to review our progress once a week or once a fortnight, when preparing for confession. We have to keep the matter more constantly before our minds: we ought to make an examination of conscience every day, and that with particular attention to the dominant habit we are trying to overcome. This self- inspection should be relatively brief; there is a danger in excessive introspection. St Ignatius of Loyola, in a letter to a Portuguese priest, once wrote "If by the grace of God our Lord the soul is at peace with God' (that is, if it is free from mortal sin) 'make the confession short, without entering into details.' So, too, a daily examination of conscience must not be made the occasion of exasperating one's nervous system. We should give more time to asking God for pardon and help, and to strengthening our resolves, than we give to the actual examination of our conscience."

Tuesday, April 29, 2014

The NLRB is expected to set a vote for some time in May. However, Seattle University officials say they expect to appeal the decision; the appeal deadline is May 1. Adjuncts, sometimes called contingent faculty, are instructors who are not eligible for tenure at colleges and universities and sometimes restricted to part-time work. They’re usually paid at a lower rate than their tenured counterparts — sometimes significantly so — and receive lesser benefits and little job security.

Seattle University argued that it was exempt from NLRB jurisdiction because it is a religiously-operated institution. An earlier Supreme Court case found that the NLRB, the federal agency that safeguards employees’ rights to organize, could infringe on a school’s First Amendment rights if it were to have jurisdiction over a school.

Seattle University also argued that it should be exempt because full-time adjuncts should be classified as managers, because the employees who want to unionize do not represent a “sufficient community of interest” and because the proposed union did not include faulty in the College of Nursing and School of Law. Ronald Hooks, regional director of the NLRB in Seattle, rejected all of those arguments. Among other findings, Hooks wrote that Seattle University “lacks substantial religious character” because it receives no funding from the Catholic Church or Society of Jesus, that only a minority of its students are Catholic and its faculty are subject to no religious requirements.

Some 60 Jesuit priests, summoned from every part of the world,
have been in conference in Rome for a week, discussing the work of the
Apostleship of Prayer, the League of the Sacred Heart. The meetings were presided over by the Father-General of the Society of Jesus, who is the Director of the Apostleship. Among those present were an ex-inmate of Dachau concentration camp, Fr. Leo de Coninek, and Fr. P. Eugene Murphy, the originator of the
famous Sacred Heart programme. the 143 minutes' religious feature on the
American radio, now carried by 513 stations,. totalling 1.539
broadcasts per week. This programme can be heard on Vatican Radio every
Friday at 7.15 (Summer 7 ime) on 31.06 and 19.87 metres wavelength. Also present were Fathers who have organised the Men's League of the Sacred Heart in Belgium, with remarkable success.
The delegates and Fr. Leonard Boase, S.J., National Secretary of the
Apostolate in England were received in audience by the Holy Father at
Castelgandolfo, on Saturday, September 25.Link (here)

The most admirable priest-rogue was a Jesuit former master of novices named Otto Pies. Released from Dachau in the Spring of 1945 as the Americans were advancing,

he disguised himself as an S.S. officer and came back to the camp with a truckload of food - rousted God knows where in those bitterly foodless days. He drove into the camp, into the priests' wired-off compound, and then drove off with 30 of the priests hidden in the back.

Two days later, when 5,400 prisoners - 88 of them priests - were led off into the Alps to be lost in the snow, Otto Pies came back in the same uniform and truck and picked up more.

Saturday, April 26, 2014

.....in the days before the Ted Williams tunnel in Boston, and getting back and forth through the Sumner and Callahan Tunnels could be something of a chore. As we sat there, under the harbor, in the tunnel, Fr. Jean-Yves Calvez, S.J. asked me a simple question: “So Michael, what theology classes are you taking this semester?” I answered: “Well Father, I am taking Jesuit Spirituality and Vatican II Theology.” Fr. Calvez quickly responded: “Very interesting, I was at the council you know.” “No Fr. Calvez, I didn’t know that, what did you do at the council?” This turned out to be the first dumb question that I asked, I expected an answer like “I got coffee,” or “I was a page.” With all gentility and humor, Fr. Calvez responded: “I worked on a document.” My second dumb question: “Really Father, which document?” I expected to hear one of the more minor documents and that he had just advised in the writing of it.

He responded: “I wonder if you have heard of it, it is called Gaudium et Spes, my friend Karol and I wrote most of it.” STOP for a minute; let’s just break down that statement. 1) Gaudium et Spes, arguably the most important, revolutionary, beautifully written, document of the council.

Inarguably in the top four in all categories because it is one of the four Constitutions, the four most authoritative documents, of the council. (2) His friend Karol. You likely know this polish friend of Jean by a different name, John Paul II.

Read (here) the full post at the Jesuit authored blog, The Road From LaStorta by Scholastic Mike Rogers, S.J.

Benedict XVI is about to begin his annual spiritual exercises which have as focus this year : "The Light of Christ at the heart of the Church - John Paul II and the theology of saints ". To coincide with this event we bring you a feature focusing on the prayer life of the late Polish Pontiff as witnessed by one of his closest advisors, Jesuit Cardinal Robert Tucci. Striking, says this Cardinal who was chief organizer of almost all of John Paul II's journeys abroad , was this pope's capacity to isolate himself from everything around him and pray:

"..even when we were staying in the nunciature early in the morning he would spend three quarters of an hour, alone in the chapel ...he was a man in continuous dialogue with Our Lord, with the Mother of God..."

In this interview you can also hear how John Paul II drew inspiration from a French Saint for the inscription "totus tuus" on his coat of arms , how his interest in Saint John of the Cross and Saint Teresa of Avila stemmed from the influence of a Polish tailor and finally how before becoming pope he spent time writing at a prie-dieu in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament...

Link (here) to Vatican RadioListen to this program presented and produced by Veronica Scarisbrick :

Krzysztof Madal, an influential Jesuit priest, slammed plans to include the ampoule in the altar of a new church saying it was returning the "Catholic Church to the medieval practices of the past"."In medieval days people didn't read and write, and knew little about the world so the Church needed stimuli," he added. "But times have changed and using blood as a relic is not a good idea." The blood was taken by doctors at the Gemelli Clinic in Rome during a tracheotomy operation, carried out shortly before the pope's death. Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz, John Paul's former secretary, would like to incorporate the blood into an altar in a new church at Lagiewniki, the town near Krakow that will house a planned John Paul II Centre, dedicated to the work and memory of the late pope. "He would like it placed in a special crystal in the altar so it is clearly visible to the faithful," said Father Jan Kabzinski, who is working on the centre.Link (here)

I had my differences with Pope John Paul II, technically my former boss. (Who doesn't disagree with the boss from time to time?) He wasn’t always the biggest fan of the Society of Jesus (aka the Jesuits, my religious order), though some of his suspicions seem to have originated with some of his advisers.

John Paul II could not accept open debate and discussion in the church. Loyalty was more important than intelligence or pastoral skill. As a result, the quality of bishops appointed under him declined, as did the competence of people working in the Vatican.

This is not to downplay John Paul's important role in world affairs. He was much more important to the peaceful fall of Communism than Ronald Reagan. He also did more to improve Catholic relations with Jews than any pope in history.

But the sad truth is that while he was good for the world, he was bad for the church. His suppression of theological discussion and debate, his insensitivity to women's issues, and his appointments kept the church from responding pastorally and intelligently not only to the sexual abuse crisis but to other issues facing the church.

I have no doubt that John Paul is in heaven, but the effort to canonize him should be put on hold

Link (here) to Fr. Thomas J Reece, S.J. and his full article at On Faith.

Friday, April 25, 2014

Pope Francis has a great smile. His preternaturally straight teeth
and crinkly-happy eyes are prominently featured on the cover of the U.S.
edition of his first book of writings, The Church of Mercy, which came out on Easter Sunday. Apparently, this was intentional. "His smiling face on the cover displays beautifully one of the major
attributes he keeps talking about, which is joy," said Steve Connor, the
director of new product development at Loyola Press. The small, Jesuit
organization won the rights to print the book over several major
publishing houses, he said, but that didn't necessarily change how the
book was packaged.

"One of the things we agreed to in getting the bid is that we
wouldn’t change any of the language in book," he said. The collection,
originally put together by the Italian professor Giuliano Vigini, was
sanctioned by the Vatican, so the English-language version had to stay
pretty much the same as the original text. "You don’t really have a lot
of wiggle room to change what the book is about. How a major press would
have done it is not much different than how we did it."

The one thing Loyola did have control over, though, was branding: How
do you sell a book of theological reflections to a mass-market
audience? Make it pretty, for starters. "We wanted a beautiful cover, making it
attractive for a U.S. audience to read," Connor said. The look of the
book was one of the only things the press could control, which makes
each design decision seem more significant: the subtle patterns that
look like they were modeled after couch upholstery, the round, friendly
font, the palette of sepia tones. These were all thought out—as Connor
said, "the muted colors give a sense of seriousness to the book."

The Jesuits in Cambodia have initiated a carbon offset programme in conjunction with the modest seedling nursery set up in Banteay Prieb, the Jesuit-run vocational school for people with disabilities, in late 2012. Primarily intended for Jesuits within the country, volunteers and visiting friends, the carbon offset programme provides an opportunity for air travellers to counterbalance the carbon emissions from their flights to or from Cambodia. “Hopefully, when our website is up and running this year, customers will be able to identify their trees and track their growth through periodically updated pictures. To date, we have 51 patrons, who have given a total of US$ 482.60 to the programme,” said Fr Gabriel (Gabby) Lamug-Nañawa SJ, who is part of the Ecology Programme team of Jesuit Service Cambodia.

“The carbon offsetting program is merely a way to maximize the value of the trees we plant,”

said Fr Gabby. “To be sure, we do not grow and plant trees in order to support a programme that offsets carbon emissions. Rather, we desire to plant as much trees and as many species as we can in communities that will care and protect them.” The growing of seedlings has now become an integral part of Banteay Prieb’s curriculum. In 2013, 22 agricultural students with disabilities spent three weeks of their school year in the nursery, learning about the techniques used in growing different native hardwood trees from seeds.

Thursday, April 24, 2014

A year after Pope Francis’ election, one of the first measurable “Francis effects” may be emerging. The Jesuits, officially known as the Society of Jesus, have seen a 65 percent increase in inquiries from men seeking to join their religions order, according to the Jesuit Conference based in Washington D.C. For many Jesuit vocations directors across the country, that is a dramatic increase from what they were used to under the years of Benedict and previous popes.

The new wave of interest in the order, founded in 1540 and known for its commitment to service, social justice and education, represents a dramatic increase from what vocation directors were used to under the years of Benedict and previous popes.

“They’ve certainly been the largest numbers that I’ve seen in my time in this job,” said The Rev. Charles Frederico, who runs the Jesuit’s east coast vocations office, which stretches from Maine to GeorgiaLink (here)

Jesuit High School was named a 2014 U.S. Department of Education Green Ribbon School on Tuesday. After a nomination by the Oregon Department of Education and the Sustainable Oregon Schools Initiative, the school was chosen along with eight other private schools and 39 public schools for the accolade.

"We are thrilled to earn this high honor," said Paul Hogan, principal of Jesuit High School. "We are especially proud that our students and staff have changed our behavior and institutional practices in order to make a lighter imprint on the earth.”

At Jesuit, this is put into practice through extensive recycling efforts, striving to use durable dishware for faculty and staff, reducing energy usage per student and increasing alternative forms of transportation with students and staff. In 2013, the school received the Oregon Pillar 3 Award for Education for Sustainability, followed by the Oregon Pillar 1 Award for Environmental Impacts in 2014.

A few weeks ago I came upon a thought-provoking homily by Father Matthew Kelty, O.C.S.O., which was given on Divine Mercy Sunday, 2006. It seems that during the former Commandant's solitary confinement in Krakow, where he awaited execution for his war crimes, Rudolph Hoess heard the bells of the local Carmel and was reminded of the Faith he had observed as a child but had long since rejected. He called for a German-speaking priest.

In his homily, Father Kelty contends that, though he may rightly spend an eternity in Purgatory, by the mercy of God even a man like Rudolph Hoess could be saved. This is an uncomfortable truth for some, even offensive to those whose sense of justice could be satisfied with nothing less than eternal damnation for such a "monster."

Tuesday, April 22, 2014

In the Gospel (Luke 11: 1-4) Jesus teaches his disciples to pray, calling upon God as Jesus himself did: "Father". God is the one Father whose human children made in his own image and likeness must forgive one another as their Father forgives them.

Jesus directed St. Faustina to write a diary that contained her thoughts, prayers, and the words of Jesus to her. In one passage (#723) Jesus said: "The greater the sinner, the greater the right he has to My mercy.""Right"?

That's not a word we would think of in this context, but Jesus declares that because he came to forgive sinners, they are the ones who have the most claim on his mercy. Another passage (#1183) is a prayer that St. Faustina wrote. It sounds very much like the "one day at a time" spirituality of the Morning Offering: "O Jesus, I want to live in the present moment, to live as if this were the last day of my life. I want to use every moment scrupulously for the greater glory of God, to use every circumstance for the benefit of my soul. I want to look upon everything, from the point of view that nothing happens without the will of God."

Like many Catholics, I once took my faith for granted: I did not attend Mass regularly, stopped going to Confession and avoided religious people. I strayed away from the Faith and began dabbling in other forms of worship. I even took part in an East Indian “healing” seminar (it only lasted for a day). Each of them guaranteed the same results: true peace and happiness. Yet despite all their sweet words and the promise of Eden, I felt empty. As I plunged deeper into sin, I thought there was no escape. There was no way that I could go back to the Church and face God being the sinner that I was--I was incredibly ashamed of myself! How could I stand there singing hymns with other “saintly” people who never committed such atrocious deeds? I could not fathom confessing to a priest once again who in my mind would surely rebuke me; consequently, for a quite a long time, I did not receive the Holy Eucharist either.

Years later, I was still in my predicament when I heard of Stanley Villavicencio: a Filipino lay person who touched the lives of sinners from all around the world and opened their hearts to Jesus Christ’s Divine Mercy.

His testimony was mind-boggling: after three days of being pronounced “clinically dead” in Chong Hua Hospital in Cebu, he came back to life, much to the shock of his doctors and family members who were busy arranging his funeral. He claimed to have seen Jesus upon his death amidst a garden filled with various kinds of beautiful flowers. Jesus then showed him the film of his life starting from the time he was a young boy up to the moment of his death. Whenever he committed a venial sin, the film would slow down; whenever he committed a mortal sin, the film would stop and enlarge itself.

Nothing could be denied since the film had the exact date and time of when the sins were done--even the minutes and seconds were recorded! He also said the sins he confessed to a priest felt lighter compared to the sins he did not confess. After reviewing the film of his life, Jesus then sent Stanley back to earth with a mission and that was to spread the word of His Divine Mercy.

He told Stanley that He would be communicating with him very often. In this dream-like state, Stanley could see, touch and even embrace Christ. Stanley was also asked to obey his authorities (Cardinal Vidal and Msgr. Cris Garcia, his spiritual director) who instructed him to write down the messages he would receive every time there was an encounter with Jesus.

Msgr. Cris Garcia who had been endowed with the gift of internal locution was made aware of each encounter simultaneously by Jesus Himself; he in turn would confirm the messages with Cardinal Vidal. To date there have been 31 encounters with our Lord since 1993. Jesus’ main message is simple: the doors of His Mercy are still wide open to penitent sinners. Souls should not hesitate to come back to Him even if their “sins be as plentiful as the stars in the sky”. If people refuse to pass through the doors of His Mercy, they have to pass through the doors of His Justice after the period of time He allots. He is also asking us to pray the Chaplet of Divine Mercy unceasingly, receive the Sacraments of Penance and Holy Eucharist often and celebrate the Mass regularly. The Chaplet of Divine Mercy is a powerful tool against hell for a dying soul: if prayed for a dying soul, God will see the soul through the wounds of His Son instead of through that person’s sins. If a repentant sinner prays the Chaplet for himself even just once, God will also be merciful to him because Jesus says that He will stand between the sinner and His Father upon that person’s death. Furthermore, Jesus promises that on the Feast of the Divine Mercy (the first Sunday after Easter) “the soul that will go to Confession and receive Holy Communion shall obtain complete forgiveness of sins and punishments”. Church officials say that the graces one receives during Divine Mercy Sunday is similar to the graces obtained during baptism. Stanley’s resurrection was so miraculous that the doctor who attended to him decided to enter the seminary.

He is now a Jesuit priest doing missionary work in Africa besides being the head of the Jesuit Hospital of the Philippines. Stanley’s testimony is also supported by 22 bishops and 2 cardinals in the Philippines as well as various Church leaders throughout the world including the late Pope John Paul II

(who during his lifetime was promoting the Divine Mercy devotion and fulfilled the vision of Saint Faustina in the 1930s by declaring the first Sunday after Easter as the Divine Mercy Sunday in 2000; Pope John Paul II incidentally died on the eve of the Divine Mercy Sunday in 2005). His story has attracted a huge number of people from different countries and has converted many to Christianity. When he went to China to deliver his message, he miraculously started speaking in Mandarin even though he had no background on the language. By the end of his speech, the Chinese audience had tears in their eyes: they understood every word he said and 200 of them embraced the Catholic Faith right away!

Monday, April 21, 2014

Notre Dame de Paris

It would be difficult to form an idea of the crowd of men that besiege the houses of the Jesuits toward the end of Lent, and one often wonders how the health of these Fathers, generally so delicate, can withstand the fatigue of hearing so many confessions. When they have been engaged in that occupation during the whole day, one or more will come in after time in the evening, or at night, and still the door is opened, and they find the Father they ask for, receiving them with open arms. For a sinner returning to God, a Jesuit never admits obstacle or delay. "At any hour of the day, at all hours of the night, we are ready to assist you," said Father Felix, at the close of one of his retreats. Father Lefebvre, who consecrates himself especially to the direction of men, was, one day, asked how many he had sent, for his share, to the General Communion at Notre Dame. "About eight hundred," was the answer.

The Fathers seem never so happy as when, on Easter morning, they are worn out and speechless with fatigue—that is their alleluia !" You abuse your strength," said a friend to one of these indefatigable laborers; "nature can not bear such an excess of work." "After me—another" was the simple and almost careless reply. His Superior, to whom it was remarked, on Easter Monday of 1859, that he must be very much fatigued with the past week's labor, answered: "Ah, we have had great consolations! There have been many conversions; our ministry has been blessed; the confessionals were crowded. The Lord be praised!"

Of his great fatigue, of his weak health—not a word! The ministry at Paris, during the winter, is overwhelming. When a Jesuit is exhausted, they give him a vacation; they send him to preach a retreat in the provinces. So as to lose no time, he travels by night, and generally ascends the pulpit on the day of his arrival. After the first exercises, he is called to hear confessions, and thenceforth all his time is divided between the pulpit and the confessional; that is what they call vacation.

Link (here) read the full account of the Parisian Jesuits in the book entitled, The History of the Society of Jesus

Friday, April 18, 2014

There is every reason to believe that these solemn prayers in our Good Friday service date back at least to the time of John Cassian and St. Jerome. Very possibly they formed an almost invariable adjunct to the three lessons and the psalmi responsorii, of which, as was said above, the non-liturgical synaxes mainly consisted. In the middle ages I think that they still survived in our English churches in the prayers known as the bidding prayers, and in France in the prieres du prone. 1 But although they must thus have been an almost, daily feature in the life of the Christians of the fourth century, it is only on this one occasion in the whole year that they are heard in our churches now. Probably the apparently meaningless Oremus, which is said in the Mass before the antiphon called the Offertory, marks the place where once they stood.

THE ADORATION OF THE CROSS

After the solemn prayers the next feature which meets us in the morning office of Good Friday is the rite which in the Latin books is described as adoratio crucis, but which amongst our English forefathers was known as the creeping to the cross. There is not, I think, any sufficient reason for dwelling upon the preliminary ceremonies with which that most impressive function is introduced. I content myself with reproducing the rubrics in the Holy Week book, which sufficiently explain the details of what is done. After reading the foregoing prayers the priest puts off his chasuble, and taking down the cross, covered with a veil, from the altar, he goes with the deacon and subdeacon to the Epistle corner of the altar, where he uncovers the top of it, and shows it to the people, singing with the deacon and subdeacon the following Anthem :

Latin

Ant. Ecce lignum crucis in quo salus mundi pependit.

English

Ant. Behold the wood of the cross, on whichhung the salvation of the world.

To which the choir, prostrate on the ground, answer :

Venite, adoremus. Come, let us adore.

From thence the priest proceeds again to the Epistle corner, where he uncovers the right arm of the cross, singing a second time, in a higher key,

Ecce lignum, etc.,

as before. Lastly, he goes to the middle of the altar, and uncovers the whole cross, singing a third time, still higher,

Ecce lignum, etc.

After which he carries it to a place prepared before the altar, where himself first kisses it, and then all the clergy and laity, two and two, kneeling thrice on both knees, and kissing the feet of the crucifix. During this ceremony two chanters in the middle of the choir sing the following verses, wherein the Redeemer of the world is represented as reproaching the Jews for their ingratitude..

Latin

POPULE meus quid feci tibi ? aut in quo contristavi te ?

Re-sponde mihi.

V. Quia eduxi te de terra Egypti: parasti crucem Salvatori tuo.

English

My people, what have I done to thee ?in what have I grieved thee?

Answer Me.
V. Because I brought thee out of the land of Egypt:Thou hast prepared a cross for thy Saviour

Saint Ignatius came back from St. Paul's this bright Easter week in April, on a Friday, one of the greatest men of modern days. The world, if it has not recognized the saint, has recognized the society he formed, and the place he filled in it. When he stood on the threshold of their house, his institute numbered but a few; yet it had made good progress for the short time of its existence. Besides the professed fathers, some were studying in Paris, and about twelve were in Rome. They had survived persecution and turned bitter enemies into ardent friends, and they had separated to go where the successor of St. Peter had pointed out. They had done wonders of charity; and the church had now acknowledged them as a new development of the love of God.

With Luther and Calvin, a new trial had fallen upon Christendom, and the Society of Jesus was just what the Church at that moment wanted.

A cry had arisen against religious orders. And this cry was met, not by a cowardly hiding of the evangelical councils as a cause of offence, but by the confirmation of a new order, which was to live in the world's sight, and whose enclosures were to be nothing less than the boundaries of the earth. Ignatius, as the servant of God, now began his generalship, by setting his house in order and writing the constitutions. We look on these acts with a peculiar interest.

The loss of Father van der Lugt has stirred profound emotions among his confreres of the Society of Jesus in the United States, many of whom told the Register that they see him as a martyr for Christ. Jesuit Father Mitch Pacwa, noted linguist, Old Testament scholar and an EWTN host, said he believed Father van der Lugt’s goodness stood out in contradiction to Islamist extremists among the rebels trying to take over. “Evil will not be neutral to good,” he said, because the presence of goodness “is a threat to its existence.” Father Pacwa pointed out that Father van der Lugt teaches Christians that solidarity means recognizing the human dignity of one’s enemies, and instead of seeking revenge, to pray for them and forgive them — even those who falsely think martyrdom is losing one’s life to kill other people. “In Father van der Lugt’s martyrdom, he died among his own people, defending them. That’s true martyrdom,” he said. “We have to identify with the martyrdom that’s like Christ’s: learning to be a victim in the face of these other problems.”

“It’s always very moving when a Jesuit is martyred,” said Jesuit Father James Martin, author of Jesus: A Pilgrimage and editor-at-large for America
magazine. “Even if I don’t know him, he’s my brother. And it’s a
reminder of the high level of service that all of us are called to as
Christians.” Father Martin said he believed Father van der Lugt fulfilled what
Blessed John Paul II called a “martyr of charity.” John Paul II declared
St. Maximilian Kolbe this kind of martyr for sacrificing his life to
save another prisoner in a Nazi death camp, as the systemic barbarity of
the Nazis was a form of hatred of the faith.

Monday, April 7, 2014

A Dutch Jesuit priest who chose to remain in the beseiged city of
Homs to care for its starving population hasbeen shot dead, according
to media reports. Fr Frans van der Lugt, a 75-year-old psychologist, had remained in
the rebel-controlled Old City throughout the siege, which is now over
600-days long, with government forces surrounding them. He had been
offered the chance to leave, but chose to stay.

His death was reported
by the pro-government Al-Mayadeen TV, and the Jesuits have since told
the Catholic News Service that Fr van der Lugt was beaten and then shot
with two bullets in the head. The Washington Post reports that
a masked gunman killed the priest inside a monastery in the Bustan
al-Diwan area of the city, although the identity and motive of the
killer remains unclear.

In February he had told the Daily Telegraph that the city had been
abandoned by the international community. He came to Syria in 1966, and
in the 1980s had set up an agricultural project outside the city to help
young people with mental disabilities. He said that hunger was sending
some people insane.

Saturday, April 5, 2014

Francis signed the decrees for the equivalent canonisations of José de Anchieta (1534-1597), Marie de l’Incarnation Guyart (1599-1672) and François de Montmorency-Laval (1623-1708). Word spread in Brazil that José de Anchieta had been proclaimed a saint yesterday, so celebrations in local churches and neighbourhoods were held a day in advance. In fact Brazil’s bishops had to issue a communiqué pointing out the correct date. José de Anchieta, known as “abarebebe” (which in the indigenous Tupi language means “the flying priest”), is a Jesuit, like Francis. He was born in San Cristóbal de La Laguna on the island of Tenerife, on 19 March 1534 and died on 9 June 1957. Italian blog Il Sismografo, which has published a brief biography of the three new saints, recalls that Anchieta is remembered as a defender of Brazil’s indigenous people and is called “the Apostle of Brazil”. São Paulo and Ro de Janeiro consider him one of their founding fathers. He is considered by many to be the father of Brazilian literature (he wrote poems in Tupi and compiled the first grammar of the Tupi language. In 1551, he and his brother joined the Company of Jesus in Portugal, where he had gone to study. Anchietra arrived in Brazil on 13 June 1553, when he was not yet 20 and launched a number of activities, not just religious ones. In 1577 he was nominated Provincial of the Company of Jesus in Brazil. His beatification process began at the Bahia harbourmaster’s office in 1617.

The owners of a historic southern Arizona ranch where past
guests include President Lyndon B. Johnson and John Wayne said Wednesday they
are holding out hope for a buyer. Veronica Schultz, 62, said that she and her husband, Richard, have only taken a
few calls from people interested in looking at Rancho de la Osa in Sasabe, which
lies about 71 miles south of Tucson. They plan to close the site as a guest ranch June 25.

``If it has not been sold or there isn't an offer pending, or something, then
we are thinking of becoming the Inn at Rancho de la Osa,'' Veronica Schultz told
The Associated Press. ``So an inn but with no horseback riding. That way we
could rest for up to four days.''

According to the Arizona Daily Star, the couple is
asking $1.9 million for the 239-acre facility which includes nine buildings, 19
guest rooms and a cantina. The ranch, which dates back to 1725, has changed ownership over the years. Originally built by Jesuit priests, the property was a trading post for local
tribes as well as a sanctuary for traveling missionaries working for Jesuit
priest Eusebio Francisco Kino.

The ranch was attached to the Gadsden Purchase in
1889 and bought by Col. William Spencer Sturgis. The colonel branded it as La
Osa Ranch and added more structures and ran a thriving cattle ranch operation. Investors operated the ranch from 1927 to 1996 when Richard and Veronica
Schultz bought it for $800,000. ``It's a signature property in Southern Arizona,'' said Gary Brasher, associate
broker with Russ Lyon Sotheby's International Realty which is handling the sale. Brasher said the next owner could keep it as a guest ranch or turn it into a
wellness spa or make it a private estate. The couple said they are ready to retire and travel. The demands of running the
place last around the clock and they can't keep up. ``I'm the cleaning lady and I'm the pool boy,'' said Richard Schultz, 68. The couple, who plans to settle in a home in Oro Valley, knows their ideal
buyer.``I just hope somebody with as much enthusiasm as us for the property buys it
and keeps it going. It's a really special place,'' Veronica Schultz said.Link (here)

About Me

I am not a Jesuit, nor am I a cleric. I spent about 5 years under the spiritual direction of a Jesuit, 3 of those years in a weekly directed retreat in everyday life. The profound impact that the Society and the Excercises had upon my life, resulted in me, trying to deal with that impact in some way by sharing my view of Jesus Christ with others. My intention is to pull together Jesuitical and Catholic subjects that interest me. I was born on the feast day of St. Paul Miki, S.J.. I am the father of three small children and an infant, I am married to a great wife.